German Chancellor candidate Merz takes a tough line on immigration longer speaks out against

January 31st, Jinshi Data: Persons familiar with the thinking of Friedrich Merz, the candidate for German chancellor, revealed that the leader of the CDU/CSU has become tougher on the immigration issue, which is a carefully planned strategy to suppress the far-right and make a breakthrough among undecided voters. Merz attempted this week to push through stricter immigration regulations in parliament, even if it meant accepting support from the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). However, his approach seems to be unwelcome. Longer accused him of undermining the ‘firewall’ established by mainstream parties to prevent the AfD from taking office. Former German Chancellor Merkel also rarely intervened and joined the criticism. In an open letter, she said that Merz’s strategy to get the motion passed is ‘wrong.’ Polls show that the CDU/CSU currently leads the second-place AfD by about 10 percentage points, but the lead has narrowed.